Final: Celtics 102, Pistons 93 - C's cruise to easy win (if you don't count the garbage time collapse to make it look close)

GAME 54
Boston Celtics (28-25, 10-15 road, 9th East) vs. Detroit Pistons (12-39, 8-17 home, 14th East)
Little Caesars Arena
7:00 NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams, Al Horford

Detroit: Saddiq Bey, Jerami Grant, Rodney McGruder, Cory Joseph, Isaiah Stewart

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- The only Celtics injuries remain Bol Bol and PJ Dozier. Sam Hauser and Brodric Thomas are on G League assignments.

- Top overall pick Cade Cunningham is out with a right hip pointer

- Josh Jackson (back), Isaiah Livers (foot), Jamorko Pickett (toe) are out for Detroit. Luka Garza, Saben Lee, and Chris Smith are on G League assignments.

- Detroit ranks third in the NBA in bench scoring (39.0 ppg) this season.

- Boston is favored by 10.

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

Respect your opponent.

As well as Boston has been playing, we’re all probably feeling the same bit of trepidation about a game against one of the worst teams in the league playing without one of its best players. So step one for the Celtics is understanding how little leeway they have here. 

"Frankly, we don’t have the record to give up any games to something like that,” Tatum said after the team’s morning shootaround in a moment of self-awareness. “So just realizing every game is equal and that we’ve been playing well, we can play better. So that's the goal, just to keep improving and capitalize on these moments. We’ve been playing well, keep building on that and try to put a streak together."

Ime Udoka actually takes a different approach of, yes, obviously focusing on the opponent, but also especially focusing on becoming better at what they're trying to do. 

“We really have to continue to zero in on what we really want to improve, worry about ourselves a lot,” he said. “That’s what we talked about today, continue to go in the right direction, do the things that we've done well, and, you know, nameless, faceless opponent so to speak, want to play the way we play regardless.”

It’s an interesting, but necessary approach for a Celtics team that has just gotten whole. In a way, the Celtics need to approach this as a 48 minute scrimmage against a live opponent rather than a February game against the lowly Pistons.

“This is invaluable time for us to get guys together, have everybody healthy,” Udoka recently said. “We need this time together. We were lacking consistency as far as lineups early in the year. For us, it's a game-by-game thing, improvement. … We need all the practice time we can get and consistency on the court."

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Protect the ball: A common refrain this season, but it’s especially important here if the Celtics want to avoid an unnecessarily tough game. The Pistons are tied for fourth in the NBA in forced turnovers per game (15.4) and they're eighth in the NBA in steals (7.9 spg) this season. They're not good, but they work hard and they’ll take advantage if the Celtics get too cute and sloppy. 

2. Keep attacking: The Pistons are 23rd in the NBA in opponent points in the paint (48.4 per game), so the Celtics need to keep up the ball movement and attack the basket. They can get to the rim if they play with good pace.

3. Defensive focus: The Pistons are the fifth-most turnover prone team in the league. They're young and they make a lot of mistakes. Stay locked in defensively and be aggressive jumping passing lanes on the perimeter and trust your help. Robert Williams is back there to erase mistakes. Chances are the extra risk will lead to a big reward.

GAME THREAD

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